


Fading Lights

by MagicHats



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Game)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2019-04-25 09:02:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14375475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicHats/pseuds/MagicHats
Summary: It was odd, pondering what to do now that the dream nail had been fully awakened. She didn't expect to be in the world for much longer, but sometimes unexpected things did happen.((Aka AU drabbles about what it might be like post-game assuming more people survive then they actually do, but mostly writing about Seer and how she'd handle everything should she not ascend at the end of the dream nail quest. Includes much speculation and headcannons))





	1. Fading lights

**Author's Note:**

> My first fic here, hopefully to everyone's enjoyment.

The Seer sighed. It’d been quite some time since their visitor (friend?) had visited them. It had been some time after the two of them had managed to fully awaken the dream nail, and she certainly hoped she wasn't wrong in assessing that bug as the wielder her tribe would have sought. She had appreciated the brief company the smaller being had provided, even though she was pretty they weren’t necessarily a normal bug by any means. Quite the oddity, but she supposed she herself was an oddity. Being the last of her kind within Hallownest as far as she knew, and quite possibly the last moth beyond _just_ Hallownest, she knew that she’d likely get some odd looks should she stray too far from the Resting Grounds.

She didn't mean to linger for longer than she meant to, but she couldn't find the strength to ascend. She couldn't bring herself to let go, to ascend and be forgotten much like the rest of her kind and their plight, to become perhaps nothing more than a _myth_  or a small stone in the road that was history.

Briefly thinking of the resting grounds, she stood up and stretched in preparation for checking the area. It had long become routine for her, patrolling the sprawling area that served as a larger graveyard and cemetery for the old kingdom. Her family had been tasked with being the attendants to the graveyard, keeping grave robbers from pilfering the graves. When the illness came, the job her family had taken a different turn. As she stepped out of her abode, she gave her old wings a couple of experimental flaps, to make sure they were still healthy. Her wings weren’t likely to grow back should she accidentally tear them. Taking a brief moment to walk back inside, she grabbed a lantern before returning outside.

She’d nearly forgotten to bring her lantern. Not that it was particularly _dark_ or anything, but she always found lanterns useful. After another experimental flap of her wings, she leapt up into the air and started her patrol through the grounds. She took this time to ponder a couple of things while making sure things hadn’t been bothered. Ghosts usually didn’t like their graves bothered.

She recalled how she had given the dream nail to her quite silent companion and visitor. They had been dutiful and helpful in bringing it back to it’s full and proper glory. She also thought about their first encounter. She had found them, collapsed in front of the large grave that had been erected for the dreamers. Sure, they technically weren’t _dead_ dead, not unless their dream selves were slain or had passed, but to the realm of the living they were functionally dead. Normally when bugs came upon that grave, they didn’t pass out. She was also quick to notice the dream motes that lingered around the area being much more abundant than normal. Her hunch that the dreamers actively meddled with this bug (for whatever reason, _it was beyond her at the time_ ) was later proven right after bringing the bug back to her humble abode and seeing for herself in the dream world.

They were silent, diligent, and surprisingly patient, putting up with an _old relic_ like her. She gave a small laugh at that, before heading into the Glade of Hope. She could appreciate the aesthetic, since it just barely preceded that of the old kingdom proper. She also could appreciate the company of the ghosts, as most of the ones in the glade weren’t keen on violence. Her mind briefly wandered back to her companion. The dream nail was quite a magical artifact, enabling bugs of any sort to have powers similar to the latent powers moths had. She supposed butterflies might have had them too, but she’d never met any butterflies in her time here. The Butterfly and Moth Tribes were similar in nature, yet so very different at times. In theory a fully awakened dream nail, in the claws of a moth, could have posed quite a threat.

She didn’t dwell on those thoughts for long.

Her patrol had proven fruitless, since almost nobody seemed to bother coming by the massive cemetery anymore. Part of her longed for something, perhaps some more _action_. Maybe her silent friend had been too much of an influence? At the very least nobody violent had come by. In her youth she was good enough with her powers to chase off would-be grave robbers. Now that she was old, she couldn’t say for sure if she’d be able to, especially with a strong enough opponent.

Just as she was walking back into her small abode, she felt herself collapse, leaning forward and falling into her pillow pile. She’d normally rest and sit on said pillows, but she was more preoccupied with the sudden feeling of burning enveloping her. She could feel _it_ , the influence of the Radiance. Some part of her dully wondered if this is what she got for being a bit rebellious and keeping her memories of the old light. She could feel it throughout her body, the radiance disappearing. Perhaps that was what her companion’s angle was, why they seemed so eager to take up the task she had saddled them with. Perhaps it might have been some sort of cosmic punishment for using the bug for her own little pet project of bringing the dream nail to it’s full power.

Whatever the case was, she could feel her consciousness slip alongside the fading presence of the Radiance. She knew much of the old light, how at some point she had been kind and benevolent, but that changed quite drastically due to her conflict with the Wyrm. Perhaps, _this_ was when she would ascend, and perhaps she would gain the _rest_ that many bugs spoke of when speaking about death.


	2. Rough start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seer wakes up from a nap and decides to go on a trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not too great with the whole thing about adjusting the amount of chapters. 
> 
> also, I like to headcannon that in her Youth, The Seer really loved history / wanted to be a historian of sorts

She had what felt like a dreamless dream. Who could say that it _wasn’t_? She felt alone, truly _alone_. Even being the last of her kind, she could at least somewhat sense the presence of the Radiance lurking within the dream realm. She couldn’t _feel_ that presence.

Perhaps the little visitor had managed to truly stop the Radiance?

She knew she was what looked to be the darkness. Sure, bugs _did_ seldom dream, but to her knowledge a dream that was nothing but darkness wasn’t one that was common.

She suddenly shivered and fought against the Void. It felt like she was drowning. She felt herself flop helplessly as she could feel things pulling her down, deeper and deeper into whatever dream she was having.

She then woke up with a start and a gasp.

After a few minutes of confused blinking, she pushed herself up into a sitting position. Glancing around, she seemed to still be in her abode, where she had passed out earlier. Shaking her head, she decided to try taking a quick peek outside.

She stuck her head out, wobbling on shaky legs. Nothing seemed _different_. It was all still the same.

“Huh” she trailed off. She certainly _didn’t_ feel tired, but she also didn’t feel like staying in the resting grounds for much longer. Perhaps she should entertain the idea of traveling. With grave robbing being at an all time low due to the relatively _new-ish_ dangers of Hallownest, she could probably get away with giving a couple of places a visit or two.

The Seer figured that she probably wouldn’t be around for _too much longer_.

That, and it wasn’t as if there were any other obligations for her from the rest of her tribe. She was the last. The last.

_The last._

The though echoed in her head a little bit, as she thought about that. She certainly hoped, once upon a time, that she wouldn’t live to become an endling of sorts. The last of an age or a tribe.

She then remembered that there were a couple of things, scattered remains of the Moth Tribe’s inhabitance before the rise of Hallownest. In her youth she’d been driven to protect that precious history from being destroyed by the Monarchy. _Yes_ , their plan was to force the moths to forget the Radiance, but she thought that it shouldn’t mean forgetting _their own past alongside it._

It was still all for naught, but she recalled that they did miss a pretty large statue up on the kingom’s very crown. _It’s ironic_ , she thought, since that was the place where the two forces initially clashed. Where the Pale king overthrew the Radiance and destroyed her Mortal Body. The Moths had erected a kind of marker, to at least acknowledge that a higher being such as her had passed there, even if they weren’t loyal to her anymore. Those sorts of events were _incredibly rare_ , just as much so as the deaths of Wyrms. And unlike the likes of Grimm (that topic had been a _headache_ to research, but still quite rewarding), the Radiance didn’t seem like she was going to attain a new mortal body.

She felt herself getting drawn to the stag station near the resting grounds. She wanted to give that place a visit. It wasn’t a _pretty_ area, but one could see quite a distance from that height, and it did have a good view of Dirtmouth. She definitely was the sort to appreciate views.

She rung the bell and was surprised to see a stag come by. She thought they were mostly gone.

“Would you take me to the Forgotten Crossroads stop?” she asked.

She used to ride the stagways frequently in her youth for her interests, be it for trying to preserve history or business regarding her family’s stewardship of the resting grounds. She figured that one was the closest one that wasn’t in Dirtmouth. Not that she _disliked_ the village, but she figured that one elevator was probably _still_ out of order.

The hike would take a while, especially if dangers she recalled the crystal peak had grew worse with time. She certainly hoped that the statue was still there.

She didn't notice, once she started making her way towards crystal peak, that she was being watched by a figure from a distance. She also didn't notice them zip away after a beat.


	3. The Statue on the Crown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Seer visits Hallownest's crown and meets a stranger who's also kinda into history

The hike took quite a while.

The Seer was quite thankful that despite all of the creatures that roamed the crystal peak, there sort that actively sought out bugs were far fewer than seemed the norm. Perhaps the disappearance of the blight was the cause, as it made even the wild bugs more menacing. Sure, there were also the miners and common bugs that were driven to insanity but the infection that so thoroughly infected Hallownest was one that affected all who lived there. It wasn’t just the wild bugs that didn’t seem to have much of a mind to corrupt.

As she flew across expanses and over crystals, she kept her guard up. Too many things tended to shoot lasers to her liking and she wouldn’t want to have her wings damaged. The crystals were quite lovely outside of that. Perhaps that was another secret, _why were these crystals so volatile_?

Eventually, with much agility for her part, she did manage to get to the Crown of Hallownest.

 

She took a moment to catch her breath, and to inspect the area. Same as it had always been, with the scorched earth, the ruins, and all of those magically imbued stones. She’d been up to this location many times in her youth, or at least before it became too difficult and time-consuming to regularly visit the area. There was an elevator that was useful for ascending the Crystal Peak to it’s very top, but it had fallen out of use after a certain point.

She sat down and tried to recall when that happened. Time was a _fickle_ thing, especially with very few consistent ways to tell how much time had passed at any one point. That, and the way that most usually did it was _tedious_ in her opinion. She was still quite happy that the large statue remained. Perhaps it was a little ironic, that this statue outlived the being that it was created for. Higher beings were incredibly long-lived if not immortal in some way, shape, or form. What it would take for one to die entirely or to be completely killed would have to be something powerful in of itself.

 

 

Her thoughts turned somber as she briefly contemplated the fact that there was _very little_ in the way of evidence that suggested that the Moth Tribe had existed, and that _included her_.

 

She decided that it wouldn’t do very well if she dwelled on those depressing thoughts for very long.

 

As she stood and stretched, preparing to leave Hallownest’s crown, an unrelated thought occurred to her. It’d been quite some time since their quiet companion had visited them. _Perhaps she would try to seek them out?_

 

She shook her head. It was never a hobby of hers to keep tabs on where people were, at least not in her old age. Trying to track down their mute friend wouldn’t do her very much good unless she waited for them to visit her in her humble abode.

Just as she was about to leap off of the cliff face and simply glide down to Dirtmouth, she heard something behind her. She glanced behind herself and noticed another bug, climbing out of the hole. They were quite peculiar, being a bit shorter and smaller then her, but still comparatively larger than their mute friend.

 

 

“Hello there” She said, a bit hesitant. This was quite a remote location and given how one would have to go out of their way to get here, this stranger probably didn’t wander into the area _by accident._

 

“Hello” They had responded, looking around.

 

 

She stood awkwardly as the bug started to inspect the area. They were glancing around at the rocks and the ruins of buildings now long gone.

 

“This is curious. Do you know much about the area?” he asked.

 

“It depends on _what_ you’re asking about. The area, the statues?” She replied and asked.

 

“Mostly some of these structures and all of the rocks, and if they had writing” they responded.

 

 

She could feel a small grin grow on her face. Somebody who was _genuinely curious_ about history. An uncommon interest, but quite fortunately for him one that she shared.

It didn’t take long with discussing the rocks to get a bit of info about this wanderer. He had come to Hallownest because something had called him. As it turned out he was quite a scholar, and they were not going to stay for much longer. This bug still wanted to linger for a little longer, perhaps explore Hallownest _a little more_ before finally leaving, but they had found what had called them here.

She could tell something was off about how the other said that, but she wasn’t going to pry. He certainly hadn’t pried about why she was up there.

 

 

“I think I will be going now, but if you are going to stay a bit longer, you could always come to visit me. I don’t get very many visitors” she said before readying her wings. This bug wasn’t wearing a nail, so hopefully he wouldn’t cause any trouble in the resting grounds or her abode.

 

Perhaps the visits from her mute friend was making her a tad more lonely than normal. Perhaps she just wanted _more visitors_. It really wouldn’t hurt to be able to talk to somebody about history with, since that wasn’t a popular interest in any of the bugs in Hallownest.

 

 

_Well_ , perhaps maybe the spiders liked history, but she wasn’t going to dig into Deepnest to get an answer.

 

Spiders generally didn’t like the company of bugs, and historically the relationship between spiders and moths have always been tenuous at best. Aside from brief amounts of trade, the two groups left each other alone for good reason. That being said, she hoped that perhaps their relationship could be better at some point in the future. While she didn’t know too many of the details, having the dreamer’s grave in the resting grounds did enlighten her a little bit about any sort of current standing.

Either the spiders did want to have a better relationship with the kingdom or the Pale King drove quite a hard bargain to get the queen of Deepnest to cooperate at all. She _hoped_ for the former, but part of her thought that the later was likely. The spiders kept to themselves, much like the hive, with the sole exception of the strained relationship with the Mantises of the Fungal Wastes. Neither of these other groups had any better relations with the kingdom, but from what she’d heard the Mantises might have at least come around.

 

She then took a running leap off the side of the cliff, much to the dismay of the stranger who shouted in alarm.

 

Part of her giggled as she glided down towards Dirtmouth. Having wings allowed her a decent amount of traveling abilities beyond the stagways or the trams.


	4. update

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a quick update

just a quick update to let people know that I haven't forgotten / abandoned this little fic, I just got busy with school and then decided to wait until the upcoming DLC releases.

Since the aformentioned DLC is gonna release later this week, there will be more chapters soon.


End file.
